40k Community

31 October 2012

I found these two cool looking Eldar dudes lurking at the back of a shelf at my local hobby store the other day. I just had to buy them up as they were only a pound each, but I actually have no idea what models they are? Can anyone out there shed any light on what they are for me please? They seem to be holding heavy weapons of some sort...

I also found an old weapons platform on the same shelf, and as I plan on experimenting with Support Weapons now that 6th edition has come out, I thought these two dudes with the platform would work well as a proxy until I get the real thing. I know the platform is a bit small, but it will do for a while whilst I try them out...

28 October 2012

I don't know about you, but I really think I haven't put enough thought into my Warlord traits so far in 6th Edition. I started off just randomly choosing one of the three categories in my first few games, sometimes I got a useful one, but mostly they were doing nothing. From then on, I got it into my mind that Personal Traits were the best ones for me and just stuck to using them! Now that I am more familiar with how 6th is running, I think it's time for me to really assess the Traits to make sure I am getting the most I can out of them!

First, I want to examine all the traits as a whole to find which category is generally the best one to choose. I want to be in a position where if I am pressed for time and need to quickly choose one, I know which category to run with without having to read them all. After that I am going to have a look at the traits from my specific army's point of view (Necrons, Tyranids, Space Wolves and Eldar) to see if I can find a trait category that will suit them even better.

So let's have a look at the traits and see which category is generally best...

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the
Warlord can use his leadershipPretty good unless your army has the same
leadership value all round2 - Enemy units within 12" of the
Warlord must use their lowest leadershipCould be very useful

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" have move through coverVery useful for units that don't have it already

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highestUseful, especially if you have a foot army that
needs to move quickly

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectivesVery useful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" add one to the charge distance resultCould make a difference

Pretty much a 6/6 in usefulness!

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack
whilst in their deployment zoneOnly good if your Warlord is defensive and stays
in your deployment zone2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge
whilst in enemy deployment zoneOnly good if your Warlord is active and likes to
attack in your enemies deployment zone

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when
deployed have outflankI wouldn't recommend anyone changing their army
tactics last minute for this one

4 - Your army gains one victory point for
each enemy character slain in a challengeAlways good

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain
whilst within 3" of an objectiveAlways good

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a
vehicleGenerally very good when the mission requires
scoring units

An average 3 to 4/6 in usefulness!

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and
stealth when using ruinsCould be useful if there are any ruins, of
which you can see before you roll your trait

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the
first turn without rollingAlways a good option to have

3 - All flanking units have acute senses
whilst your Warlord is aliveUseful, but only if you plan to flank

4 - Can re-roll any reserve rolls whilst your
Warlord is aliveVery useful, as most of us will reserve at least
one thing

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their
reserve roll whilst your Warlord is aliveVery useful, as most of us will reserve at least
one thing

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three
units D6" of their current position within deployment zoneSounds useful, but I am not convinced by it. Could
be ok under the right circumstances

A average 3/6, but could be a solid 5/6 depending on
circumstances!

So after all that, I was choosing the weakest
category out of the three, with Command traits coming out on top, Strategic
Traits second and my Personal Traits coming in last. Well, from a general point of
view anyway! Next then, I want to have a look at the categories for my specific armies...

NECRONS

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the
Warlord can use his leadershipUseless, as everything is leadership ten anyway2 - Enemy units within 12" of the
Warlord must use their lowest leadershipUseful

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" have move through coverUseful

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highestUseful

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectivesUseful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" add one to the charge distance resultUseful

A nice 5/6 in usefulness!

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack
whilst in their deployment zoneUseful, unless my Overlord is in a Command Barge!2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge
whilst in enemy deployment zoneCould be useful if I had a Destroyer Lord with Wraiths charging forward!

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when
deployed have outflank
Maybe, but probably not

4 - Your army gains one victory point for
each enemy character slain in a challengeUseful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain
whilst within 3" of an objectiveUseful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a
vehicleUseful

An average 4/6 in usefulness!

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and
stealth when using ruinsCould be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the
first turn without rollingAlways a good option to have

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their
reserve roll whilst your Warlord is aliveUseful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three
units D6" of their current position within deployment zoneSounds useful, but I am not convinced

An average 3/6, but could be 4/6 depending on
circumstances!

It is a close one, depending on circumstances, but the Command Traits for Necrons seems to be the best option overall.

TYRANIDS

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the
Warlord can use his leadershipUseless, as you probably will be within Synapse if you are within 12" anyway2 - Enemy units within 12" of the
Warlord must use their lowest leadershipUseful

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" have move through coverUseless, as most have it anyway

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highestMost Nids have fleet anyway

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectivesUseful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" add one to the charge distance resultUseful

An average 3/6 in usefulness!

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack
whilst in their deployment zoneMaybe, although unlikely2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge
whilst in enemy deployment zoneFurious charge on Nids is always good, unless you've purchased it already

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when
deployed have outflank
Nids no longer flank in protest to 6th edition

4 - Your army gains one victory point for
each enemy character slain in a challengeUseful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain
whilst within 3" of an objectiveUseful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a
vehicleUseful

An solid 4/6 in usefulness!

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and
stealth when using ruinsCould be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the
first turn without rollingAlways a good option to have

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their
reserve roll whilst your Warlord is aliveUseful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three
units D6" of their current position within deployment zoneSounds useful, but I am not convinced

A solid 3/6, but could be 4/6 depending on
circumstances!

Again it is close, but my original Personal Traits seem to win for the Nid as the best overall category.

SPACE WOLVES

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the
Warlord can use his leadershipUseful2 - Enemy units within 12" of the
Warlord must use their lowest leadershipUseful

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" have move through coverUseful

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highestUseful

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectivesUseful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" add one to the charge distance resultUseful

An amazing 6/6 in usefulness!

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack
whilst in their deployment zoneUseless, I have it anyway2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge
whilst in enemy deployment zoneCould be good for a Thunderwolf based Lord

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when
deployed have outflank
Can't see it myself

4 - Your army gains one victory point for
each enemy character slain in a challengeUseful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain
whilst within 3" of an objectiveUseful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a
vehicleUseful

A solid 4/6 in usefulness!

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and
stealth when using ruinsCould be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the
first turn without rollingAlways a good option to have

3 - All flanking units have acute senses
whilst your Warlord is alive
Useless, I have it already

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their
reserve roll whilst your Warlord is aliveUseful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three
units D6" of their current position within deployment zoneSounds useful, but I am not convinced

An average 3/6 in usefulness!

It is pretty obvious that Command Traits is the way forward for the Wolves

ELDAR (Saim-Hann)

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the
Warlord can use his leadershipUseless, as the JetSeer will be pushing forward out of range2 - Enemy units within 12" of the
Warlord must use their lowest leadershipUseful

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" have move through coverUseful

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highestI won't be running

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectivesUseful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" add one to the charge distance resultI don't charge much with my Saim-Hann

A solid 3/6 in usefulness!

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack
whilst in their deployment zoneUseless, The JetSeer will not be hanging back2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge
whilst in enemy deployment zoneUseful

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when
deployed have outflank
Can't see it myself

4 - Your army gains one victory point for
each enemy character slain in a challengeUseful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain
whilst within 3" of an objectiveUseful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a
vehicleUseful

A solid 4/6 in usefulness!

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and
stealth when using ruinsCould be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the
first turn without rollingAlways a good option to have

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their
reserve roll whilst your Warlord is aliveUseful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three
units D6" of their current position within deployment zoneSounds useful, but I am not convinced

An average 3/6 in usefulness!

Nothing here that stand out as amazing, but the Personal Traits seem to have the edge over the others for quantity of usefulness

ELDAR (Footdar)

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the
Warlord can use his leadershipUseful2 - Enemy units within 12" of the
Warlord must use their lowest leadershipUseful

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" have move through coverUseful

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highestUseful

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectivesUseful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" add one to the charge distance resultUseful

An amazing 6/6 in usefulness!

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack
whilst in their deployment zoneUseful2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge
whilst in enemy deployment zoneI doubt I will be there much

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when
deployed have outflank
Can't see it myself

4 - Your army gains one victory point for
each enemy character slain in a challengeUseful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain
whilst within 3" of an objectiveUseful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a
vehicleUseful

A solid 4/6 in usefulness!

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and
stealth when using ruinsCould be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the
first turn without rollingAlways a good option to have

3 - All flanking units have acute senses
whilst your Warlord is alive
Useful for the War Walkers

4 - Can re-roll any reserve rolls whilst your
Warlord is aliveUseful

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their
reserve roll whilst your Warlord is aliveUseful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three
units D6" of their current position within deployment zoneSounds useful, but I am not convinced

A solid 4/6 in usefulness!

All three are solid, but the Command Traits win easily.

ELDAR (Mechdar)

COMMAND TRAITS

1 - Friendly units within 12" of the
Warlord can use his leadershipMaybe, but only after all the tanks have been destroyed2 - Enemy units within 12" of the
Warlord must use their lowest leadershipUseful

3 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" have move through coverUseful

4 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" roll an extra dice when they run and use the highestI won't be running much

5 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" re-roll ones to hit when shooting units 3" from objectivesUseful

6 - Warlord and all friendly units within
12" add one to the charge distance resultUseful

A solid 4/6 in usefulness!

PERSONAL TRAITS

1 - Warlord and his unit have counter attack
whilst in their deployment zoneUseful if my bikes get assaulted2 - Warlord and his unit have furious charge
whilst in enemy deployment zoneUnlikely

3 - Warlord and the unit he joins when
deployed have outflank
Can't see it myself

4 - Your army gains one victory point for
each enemy character slain in a challengeUseful

5 - Warlord and his unit gain feel no pain
whilst within 3" of an objectiveUseful

6 - Warlord is a scoring unit even if he is a
vehicleUseful

A solid 4/6 in usefulness!

STRATEGIC TRAITS

1 - Your units have move through cover and
stealth when using ruinsCould be useful if there are any ruins

2 - Can choose to have night fight for the
first turn without rollingAlways a good option to have

5 - Enemy has a minus one modifier to their
reserve roll whilst your Warlord is aliveUseful

6 - Redeploy one unit 3D6" or three
units D6" of their current position within deployment zoneSounds useful, but I am not convinced

An solid 4/6 in usefulness!

So it's neck and neck for my Mechdar, although on the face of it, I think the best traits within the categories for them are the Command Traits.

Right, well that was a lot of work, but I think it was worthwhile. I now have a very clear vision of what trait tables I will be rolling on for each of my armies. Hopefully I will be giving myself the best chance of getting something useful, without having to think about it when it's time to choose the table at the beginning of a game.

Here is the list of my final conclusions

Necrons: Command Traits

Tyranids: Personal Traits

Space Wolves: Command Traits

Eldar (Saim-Hann): Personal Traits

Eldar (Foot and Mech): Command Traits

So what do you think? Have I missed anything? Is there something about the Strategic Traits I haven't taken into account? Am I going about this the right way? Is it worth planning like this? How do you choose your traits?

25 October 2012

I have had some amazing things done for me on both my Blog and YouTube Channel from around the world. Stuff that really makes you realise how fantastic our community really is. I have recently had an IDIC Grey Knight Paladin named after me by Catattafish, an IDIC Sanguinary Priest named after me by TheKnightKage and I am currently waiting for my IDIC Necron to arrive from TomasGessler. I have received an amazing amount of support from so many people that I can't name them all, but here are a few of my favourite videos for you to check out. The last video in this list is one of my very favourite videos on YouTube, of my mate Dunk receiving a few items in the post, including the Magnetised Belial work I did for him. I think his video sums up how great our community is, as well as making me laugh! Thank you everyone for your support and generosity...

22 October 2012

Continuing on from my previous post where I looked at making the Scarab farm work in 6th Edition, I take my Scarabs up against Blood Angels in this 1750pt battle report. I also had a bit of fun making a little shout out for my YouTube buddy madgolem, with a little prelude at the start of the video. I have had a good response to the prelude on YouTube, so I hope you enjoy it also. Here is a little refresh of my Scarab Wave list...HQ

19 October 2012

It seems like my luck hasn't run out yet, as once again I win another YouTube competition! This time my video entry was randomly drawn out as the winner in madgolem's 100 Subscriber giveaway competition. Madgolem also has a Blog with the same name as his YouTube Channel hulupainting, and it has to be said that he is not only a fantastic painter, but is also a really great guy. We have been commenting on each others videos for sometime now, and it is great to have the support of someone in the community to help keep you motivated in this way. Here is a video of me opening up my prizes, which were three Reaper Bones miniatures, Garrick The Bold, an Ogre Champion and a Cave Troll.

Please check out madgolem's Channel and Blog and give him some support...

16 October 2012

Well, from what I have seen and read, the Scarab farm has pretty much been written off in 6th Edition. I am not talking about a few Scarabs and Spyders here and there in a list, I am talking about using three maxed out Scarab units backed up by as many Spyders as you can get! I was reading an excellent article over on 3++ by Kirby a while back about the Metatransition of the Scarab Farm. The article was discussing how 6th Edition has effected Scarabs and the best way to use them now, which got me thinking about my old 5th Edition Scarab Farm list and how I could possible find a way to use my 60+ Scarabs now in 6th!

Kirby wrote...

"Right so let's look at what changes we have specifically for Scarab Farm...

vehicles are hit on a 3+ at worst. Scarabs chew through vehicles
now. Think the Mummy series and imagine those human beings are tanks
and those scarabs are...soulless scarabs. Ya, vehicles hate combat now
and Scarabs are one of the best at it.

Fearless rocks - Fearless sucked before for Scarabs as they would
often lose combat and then lose several more bases for their efforts.
Anything which could ID them would wipe out entire farms in a matter of
seconds but now, well now they are a great tarpit. They aren't going to
kill infantry still but they can at least stick around and annoy the
crap out of them.

movement & charge changes make Scarabs faster over a period of
turns thanks to a 12" move plus RCL (Random Charge Length) but in a
given turn, RCL reliability can bite Scarabs on the bottom. They
generally aren't engaging infantry units though so Overwatch isn't that
scary despite their poor statline.

Cover changes hurt Scarabs a lot - they used to be cheap with an
annoying durability but now getting such a good cover save is harder.
Still possible but harder.

And Night Fight is no longer what it was. Although most armies
generally had a counter to Night Fight through things like Searchlights,
it's a lot easier to completely IGNORE Night Fight on some very
specific units. You know, like a building Scarab farm which coupled with
the above change, makes growing the farm a lot harder to do.

Spyders are scarier with RCL however since they got potential
movement gains though cover reduction hurts them as well - they were
pretty easy to get a 4+ for before base on 50%.

And then of course you have all the awesome changes for
Necrons in general with Gauss & Tesla loving Hull Points, fake AV13,
Jink saves, etc. So what's this mean for Scarab farm?

So if you were really looking to add something like this to your
army, I'd be looking at keeping it as simple as possible. Scarabs have
some pretty nice upsides in 6th edition and make a nice tarpit unit for
your normal Necrons but if you go for a full farm you're losing a lot of
extra firepower by not taking the Barges. Rather than consider this an
army template, I'd more think of it as a plug-in for a basic Necron
army. Hell, it could even be used as an Ally plug-in though you'd
obviously only have one Fast Attack unit.

2x8x Scarabs

3x Spyders, 1 w/Gloom Prism

Totals: 395 points

You don't want Imotekh as he stops your own shooting. You
don't want mass Spyders as that takes away from Annihilation Barges. You
want two Scarabs so you have a 3rd Fast Attack slot for Wraiths if you
want and you have a second layer of Scarabs. One works as well though,
particularly if you're running it as an Ally plug-in. You're not
fiddling around with all the extra goodies Necrons can get like a
Writhing Worldscape C'Tan + Tremorteks (Crypteks with Tremor staves)
because that takes points away from things which actually drop crap dead
in the Necron codex. It's a simple mini-farm which can plug into lists
if you're looking for a screening option and back-up MCs all for less
than 400 points. Hell, the Spyders aren't even needed - I'd still rather
another Annihilation Barge and let the Scarabs do their thing - pop
some vehicles, delay the opponent."

Most of what Kirbysaid what pretty much spot on, but even so, it doesn't mean I can make a full farm list work, does it? Well lets have a look at what I can come up with. First up, I am going to ignore my previous list, which rightly so, included Imotekh. As Kirby said the Stormlord list concept isn't going to work like it used to. So, with that said a new army build template is required, and I think a Wave template fits in perfectly for a Scarab Farm army and that it the direction I am going to go...

My list is going to be for 1750 points as that is the main level I play at, I have found that six Spyders is about the maximum that I can fit into the Farm at this points level and still have enough points left over for everything else needed, plus I only own six Spyders anyway! So the front Core of my army will be three groups of ten Scarabs, backed up by three groups of two Spyders. Back to the Scarabs themselves and the biggest benefit they now have is being Fearless, no more Fearless wounds means these guys will be around much longer, so Scarabs in numbers is what we are after...

Turn one and two will be used to bolster two units of Scarabs as the full Phalanx moves forward. These two large Scarabs units will be the first wave in the list and will probably end up out of range of the Spyders, so the Spyders will start to boost the numbers of the third group from turn three ready to send them out as the next wave. All three groups of Spyders will make the next wave behind them, spawning as many bases as robotically possible. So that's the Farm section of the list out of the way, and obviously I don't expect any of it to still be around at the end of the game, it's job is to push forward to kill and hold up as much of my opponents army as it can for as long as it can!

Running behind the Farm will be the next wave, sixteen Warriors and a Jacked up Overlord. I have had a huge success with this unit so far, with the Overlord being amazing in Challenges with Mindshackle and Labyrinth doing what they need to do very well, whilst his Resurrection Orb helps to keep the Warriors alive for longer. I have also added a Stormtek to the unit to help with any challenge issues. I don't want the Overlord attacks wasted due to being tied up in a challenge with a nobody! Following up at the rear, is the last Wave of three groups of ten
Warriors. There main job it to offer some mid range fire support and to
take any mission objectives at the end of the game...

The last wave is going to be nine deep striking Deathmarks. They will be wave two, three or four, depending on when they arrive from reserve, and they will be aiming to come down near or in my enemies deployment zone offering a wave from a different direction!

So what about Flyers? Well, I am not seeing many Flyers in my gaming group at the moment so I am not too concerned with them, if one turns up I will have to hang on and hope that the Warriors will throw down a lot of sixes! If I do find it becomes an issue, I can always group the Spyders into two sets of three and then drop some Warriors for an Annihilation Barge, or maybe even take an Aegis Defence Line with a Quad Gun.

Here is my final Scarab Farm Wave list and army deployment strategy. Of course it all depending on circumstances, but at least I will be going to the table with a plan of some sort...